Group Review – Bill & Ted’s Most Triumphant Return #1 (BOOM! Studios)

Posted on March 11, 2015 in BOOM! Reviews

Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Author(s): Brian Lynch, Ryan North
Artist(s): Jerry Gaylord, Ian McGinty
Release Date: 11th March, 2015

Ceej Says…

Since it was first announced, the excitement level for Bill And Ted’s Most Triumphant Return has been through the roof, particularly here at BCP Towers. However, with that excitement also comes the burden of expectation, as fans of the cult movies – myself included – find ourselves waiting with baited breath to see if the comic series has managed to capture the excellence of the films we know and love.

Picking up directly from the conclusion of the second film – and I mean directly – this issue sees our most excellent Wyld Stallyns faced with the burden of overnight fame following their victory at the San Dimas Battle of the Bands, dealing with wide-eyed visitors from the future, and struggling with the public clamouring for their long-awaited (well, for like a day) second single. Right from the start, it’s clear that writer Brian Lynch just plain ‘gets’ the humour of the movies, with both Bill S. Preston esq. and Ted Theodore Logan sounding exactly like their big-screen counterparts. Artist Jerry Gaylord also does an impressive job with his suitably cartoony style, delivering an instantly recognisable cast of characters.

As with the movies, the time-hopping here is handled in the silliest of fashions, with the actual storyline (such as it is) coming a distant second to the instantly quotable-dialogue and the sheer charisma of our main characters. If you’re looking for a gripping, logical story… well, chances are you wouldn’t be picking up this book in the first place, but it does bear mentioning that this is most definitely silliness of the highest order, with nostalgia and familiar catchphrases very much the key selling points here.

The backup story from Ryan North and Ian McGinty is enjoyable enough, in spite of McGinty’s artwork not quite delivering the familiarity of Gaylord’s. North’s humorous touches give the gloriously bonkers story an added level of charm, particularly with his interesting ‘trivia’ notes at the bottom of each page. An amusing aside for sure, but I’d personally have preferred to see the main story expanded by a few more pages instead, as it did seem to cut off somewhat abruptly just as I was really starting to get into it.

Overall, Bill And Ted’s Most Triumphant Return is exactly that, an utterly authentic, nostalgia-filled look at what happened after the credits rolled on the second movie. Fans of the films will be in absolute heaven here, although newcomers to the franchise – assuming such bogus people still actually exist – are likely to feel left out and confused by the brisk pace and frequent referencing of previous events.

Rating: 4/5.

Ross Says…

Dude, this is like, totally a hard one. I’m totally down with the most bodacious adventures of Bill S. Preston Esquire and Ted Theodore Logan, but I’m also not a true believer, dude – I was way young for that. Not sayin’ that I don’t, like, like it – those movie’s’re most excellent, dude – I’m just saying that maybe I don’t love it as much as certain other BCP dudes, dude.

But check it – the writing is most authentic; like, picture in your mind what I’m trying to pull off with this review, but, like, done well, and you’re totally there. It’s most sequel-icious – that first panel? That’s 5 seconds after the end of the dudes’ Bogus Journey, and checks out that most rad future civilisation that it spawned. It’s like a most excellent jam of guitar riffs – you can hear where the chords are being pulled from, but it still sounds pretty good, dude.

But hey! If it’s back in a comic book – most sequential! – you gotta check the art, and that stuff is most appropriate, dude. It’s taking riffs from film and animated series, but updating the style for a more, like, modern feel. There’s, like, a small voice, in the back of my head, y’know? That’s saying that’s not excellent, but the rest of it feels totally authentic, dude.

This book is not going to sell you on Bill & Ted, dude. If you’re, like, the De Nomolos of the real world, then this is totally not the book for you. But if you dig the bodacious, the excellent, and air guitar, you’ll totally dig this book.

Rating: 3/5.

Hoff Says…

If you feel like taking a step back in time, back into your childhood and back into simpler times where everything is excellent (and sometimes bogus), then pick this up. It was like I was 10 years old all over again watching these two characters on the big screen. Now, having said that, while I did enjoy it for the nostalgic factor, I would however not recommend it for anything else.

There are few times when I read a comic that I cannot wait until I reach the last page – and fewer still that start that feeling within the first 3 or 4 pages. The dialogue is just like that of the movie, which I would expect nothing less from, and the characters and story flow like a continuation of such, but I guess for me it just doesn’t translate well from movie to comic.

It was a horribly boring read, made amusing to me because I couldn’t help but do my best Bill and Ted impressions in my head as I read along. Unfortunately it was tasking to continue reading on until the end, and that takes away from the experience, making it less than enjoyable. The likenesses of the characters are captured well in the cartoonish style, and this approach fits the campy flashback well.

Unfortunately, I can’t in good conscience recommend this book for anything but a fun nostalgic trip down memory lane. If you were a fan of the movies you will probably enjoy yourself to a point, but unless you were an extreme diehard who wishes the Wyld Stallyns were an actual band and Bill and Ted were you’re most excellent friends, then I’d suggest you pass on this book. But hey, if you are feeling nostalgic then there’s no reason not to give it a read – on the other hand, you could just look the movies up on Netflix and shut it off when you get your fix.

Rating: 2/5.

PREVIEW ARTWORK
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